Employed the wrong person for your farm?

Those of you that have experience with employing people and judging if they fit your farm, also unfortunately have been taken in by someone presenting themselves very well at an interview and turning out to be the total opposite of nice and experienced once they start work. One of my clients is going through this scenario at the moment which prompted this blog post.

As the shortage of employees continues farmers are virtually forced to employ people they have doubts or reservations about and they would normally not hire as the picking are slim, with very few people applying for any farming position. 

How can protect yourself from the stressful and costly consequences of picking the wrong person?

1. Make sure you have the 90 trial period in your contract and their contract is signed before the day they start work as otherwise the trial period is invalid. This way you can remove a disruptive person from the farm without jumping through many hoops over a period of weeks.
2. Consider doing a criminal record check on every new employee you hire. The process is explained here. They need to give you permission to do a check and show you identification, The process in itself may bring things to light that they were trying not to bring up in the interview.
3. Check references and ask probing questions as referees try to avoid saying negative things and are chosen to be positive about the prospective employee. My favorite question to a previous employer: Would you employ them again and why (not)?